


Knowledge

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angry Poe Dameron, Angst, Betrayal, Leia Organa Isn’t Perfect, Lies, M/M, Other, Past Torture, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Pre-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:20:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21837361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: After Crait, Poe confronts Leia.
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Leia Organa, Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren
Kudos: 58
Collections: Genprompt Bingo Round 17





	Knowledge

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Anger
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.
> 
> Author’s Notes: All aboard the angst train!

“You knew.” Even saying it out loud, Poe swore that he couldn’t stay steady. He doubted he could speak any more without feeling a sort of fury towards the woman he would have respected building in him. He could remember, in the beginning, looking up to Leia Organa, seeing her in a sense as a sort of goddess. Nothing like the deceased Shara Bey, but definitely someone who he would have followed into Mustafar had she asked. “All this time you knew about Ben, and you didn’t tell me.”  
  
“Poe,” Leia said. Even as they stood in the main hold of the Falcon, she didn’t look belligerent this time, ready to slap or tase him. Instead, she just looked tired. “It wasn’t easy keeping it from you. There were times that Han and I wondered if it was the right thing to do, but you weren’t ready for the burden...”  
  
“So I wasn’t ready to know who exactly tortured me?” Poe said disbelievingly.  
  
“I never thought he’d do that to you,” Leia said. “I...knew what the First Order would do to its prisoners. I thought that maybe he’d spare you. Now...” The way she looked, she looked all but alone. “It’s one of many places where I know that Ben Solo’s gone. If there was anything left of a good man in him, he made sure to kill it piece by piece.”  
  
Poe knew that the logical response would be to agree. In the end, though, he couldn’t. Even after what Kylo had done to him, to Finn and Rey and Leia and Han and so many others, he couldn’t agree with the very thought, the very idea, that there was nothing left of Ben.   
  
“Vader redeemed himself,” Poe said. “Apparently.”  
  
Leia seemed to wince a little. “That’s...subjective.”  
  
“But Luke was willing to go through hell for Vader. Why was Ben any different?” A beat. “There has to be some way to save him. I can’t leave him.”  
  
It was illogical. It was ridiculous. It would most likely end in tears. In Poe knowing that, once again, he wasn’t enough and never would be. But he needed answers. Needed to know what led someone to run away from Yavin IV and return with a ridiculous Revan-knock-off mask and a taste for killing. Needed to understand. Maybe there was nothing to understand. And yet...somehow, the idea of Ben just becoming a coldblooded killer for no reason was all wrong.   
  
“I don’t know, Poe,” Leia said.   
  
There wasn’t any smug satisfaction in it. If anything, Poe thought, she just looked crushed. It was something that stuck with him even as he made his way back to his quarters on the Falcon. There was nothing he could do now, except sit out through the tedious journey through hyperspace. (Kaydel had expressed frustration at being locked up in the ship. Poe couldn’t say he blamed her) And keep up the fight, of course. Ben...he couldn’t stop fighting for Ben’s sake. For a man named Ben who would have done anything for him — and who he would have done anything for.   
  
Even if Leia wasn’t perfect. Even if the Resistance was flawed. Because Poe was fundamentally Poe, and he would be damned if he gave up.


End file.
